The new Story of Stuff Project film “The Story of Change” is out! And reminds us that we can’t consume our way to a sustainable society, but we’ll need to flex our citizen muscles and take political action.

Recent studies find that expressing gratitude leads to fewer aches and more restful slumber. With tonight’s sleep in mind, let me offer many thanks to those who’ve helped the Transforming Cultures Project over 2011!!

Eat Vitamin Donuts, Save Sugar, Garden More, Eat More Fish. These are just a few of the recommendations of the U.S. government over the past century. One they forgot: don’t take money from food companies.

“You Shall Not TRASH!” So sayeth Gandalf in the newest epic, “Lord of Recycling.” Watch it at Transforming Cultures and see a great new eco-parody of “The Lord of the Rings” and a powerful example of viral social marketing.

The Transforming Cultures Project is proud to release a new sustainability education scenario for the world renowned board game, The Settlers of Catan. The scenario Catan: Oil Springs is available at www.oilsprings.catan.com

The relative silence isn’t hard to understand. Population is almost always awkward to talk about. It’s fraught with sensitivity about who has how many children and whether that is anyone else’s business. It’s freighted with sexuality, contraception, abortion, immigration, gender bias, and other buttons too hot to press into conversation. Yet two aspects of population’s connection to climate change cry out for greater attention—and conversation.

The next frontier of Reality TV needs to be normalizing sustainable lifestyles. My proposal: a simple living family that chooses to have just one child, even as friends choose the currently normal two.

Last week, the Boy Scouts added a new badge for “Video Games.” This has led me to officially declare that the Boy Scouts are now in decline and it is time for new upstarts like Earth Scouts and others to take their place.

For such a great job selling burgers, fries and Coke to kids, Ronald McDonald deserves an early retirement. Just like Joe Camel and Spuds MacKenzie. The new Retire Ronald campaign is trying to do just that….